New digital sales systems, big marketing campaigns or demographic math may have increased the number of young U.S. residents shopping for individual life insurance last month.
MIB Group Inc. says life insurance application activity for U.S. consumers under the age of 45 was 1.1% higher in September than it was in September 2016.
The activity increase for September was the biggest year-over-year increase MIB has reported for consumers in that age group all year.
MIB — a Braintree, Massachusetts-based insurance applicant data collection group — reported a 0.2% year-over-year activity increase for consumers under 45 for August.
The overall activity level for consumers of all ages was 0.6% lower in September than it was in September 2016. But the drop was smaller than the 1.5% year-over-year decrease MIB reported for August.
For consumers ages 45 to 59, the September activity rate fell 3.4%.
For consumers ages 60 and older, the activity rate fell 1.3%.
Life insurers and other users use MIB databases to verify the information on consumers' life insurance applications. MIB bases its life application activity figures on the number of individual life applications member insurers run through its verification systems.
The group estimates insurers use MIB systems to check about 90% of the life applications submitted in the United States and Canada.
Several insurers have been launching or expanding web-based life sales systems in recent months, and the life insurance industry ran a Life Insurance Awareness Month outreach campaign in September. Campaign ads and public service announcements may have converted some young consumers into life insurance applicants.
The millennial generation is bigger than the baby bust generation, and it's possible that sales to young adult consumers are increasing because more young adults are getting steady jobs, having children, buying homes, and going through other life events that have led to an increase in interest in buying life insurance.
MIB has posted a copy of the latest application activity figures here.
Allison Bell
Allison Bell, a senior reporter at ThinkAdvisor and BenefitsPRO, previously was an associate editor at National Underwriter Life & Health. She has a bachelor's degree in economics from Washington University in St. Louis and a master's degree in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. She can be reached through X at @Think_Allison.